Thursday, February 26, 2009

The Second Time Around

I’ve always
been a voracious reader – yet in High School I took the
requisite (back then) two years of English – and then never looked back
(as you can tell by my horrendous punctuation skills). Although I
loved reading books, I never considered English or literature as a
major for college; or writing as a career. Besides my inability to
spell made every paper I turned in look something like the survivor
of a horrible beating (THANK GOD word processors and spell check was
invented). And I never quite “got” classic literature.
All those allusions to other things with metaphors – if you
wanted to talk about something just come out and say it!! Please
don’t ask me to understand references to mythology and
allegories.

In 2003 BBC listed
Brittan’s 100 most loved books. This list has
turned into a meme
where people tick off which books they’ve read and those they
haven’t. It’s always interesting to see who’s read
what, but what interests me more – are those who comment on
re-reading a particular book over and over again on an annual,
decade, or quarter of a century schedule.

I HATE rereading
books. In the beginning, I didn’t think it was worth
mentioning. But more and more writers talk about how they return over
and over again to certain works – and are rejuvenated and
encouraged each time they revisit them.

There are a few
books I’ve read over and over and the older I get the more
infrequently I read a story a second time. Going back I realize what
I choose to re-read was pure escapism. The formula that appealed to
me was specific. Either it involved a wealthy young woman living
in/around San Francisco and facing a hardship, or it was a cowboy, a
“knight of the range”, living life by his own peculiar
code of ethics.

Just so you don’t
get the wrong idea my book gorging was much broader than Zane Gray,
Danielle Steel, and Stephen King. In fifth grade I read my first
James Michener novel. Like most, I tore through The Chronicles of
Narnia. However, I didn’t “get” the Lord of the
Ring and struggled with “The Animal Farm”.

It wasn’t
until I joined a neighborhood book group in Phoenix that I realized
there was another level of reading, what is considered “literature”.
I quickly recognized these books were somewhat related in style to
“To Kill a Mockingbird” and “The Outsiders”,
the only two works of literature I understood and remembered from
High School.

I’ll never
forget the first time it was my turn to recommend a book. I chose
“Anywhere
but Here” by Mona Simpson. I told the group it
was this great story about a young girl and her mom who stop in
Phoenix on their way to a new life in Los Angeles. Or that’s
how I remembered the story. When the group read it – they were
appalled. What a dark and sad story! Did I really like it? And I had
to confess, when I’d re-read the book? It certainly WASN’T
uplifting or happy – or even the same story I’d so fondly
recalled.

Not long ago I
started down the path of becoming a writer. It seems no matter where
I turn authors list other writers who influence them the most. When I
think about the stories I’ve liked the best (other than any
book with lots of pages), I mention Wallace
Stegner, John
McPhee, Ferrol
Sams, Wally
Lamb, Joshilyn
Jackson, and Zane
Gray. Why? Because there is something about their
writing that calls to me. For Stegner, McPhee, and Gray I’m
willing to say it’s because they were teachers. They taught me
about geography, geology, and “The West”. Sams and
Jackson have introduced me to my southern home, and Wally Lamb …
well the power of his characters just grips me.

I’ve become
leery about recommending books and authors. You get that way when
people screw their face up in consternation when you rattle off a
synopsis. “The
politics of food?” they say. Or, “A whole
book about Brothels
in Chicago?” Slowly they inch just a little
further away. Talking rapturously about books tracing the Influenza
Epidemic or the
use of cadavors, is certainly one way to limit your
social circle.

So, “where’s
all of this going?” you’re probably asking yourself.
(Indeed, I am wondering why I’m 650 words in and haven’t
gotten there yet.) It’s all about re-reading books. Monday
night I was hurriedly trying to finish up my writing homework. I was
looking for the perfect phrase for a ranch foreman. I knew Zane Gray
had used it hundreds of times in his stories, so I searched the
internet. That’s when I stumbled upon an e-copy of “Light
of the Western Stars”. Reading part of a chapter
I was appalled at the dialogue. I think I was most bothered by Mr.
Gray butchering words to make them sound “western”.
Things like “Ho-tel” and “I jest am about to give
up” raked on my ear so badly I despaired. Not only that …
but as usually happens, within a paragraph or two, the whole story
line came back to me. (or at least my mal-remembered version of the story)

What’s the sense in reading something
again if you remember how it’s going to end?

So here are my
questions to you tonight.

Do you re-read
books?

If yes, why? If no,
why not?

Me? I think I’m
tired of being disappointed that the second time around doesn’t
live up to my memory.

6 comments:

Why? For one thing, I'm a creature of habit. I also watch the same films and tv episodes repeatedly, too (ask me how many times I've seen The West Wing "Two Cathedrals" episode, or "When Harry Met Sally", and each time, a pleasure). I don't know if it's the comfort of familiarity, the sense of nostalgia, or both, perhaps. Or, is it that the things I contantly return to are the things that inspire me?

I'm currently "reading" (it's on audiobook) *Animal Farm*. I haven't read it since high school. What a joy the second time around. I get it now because I'm not trying to hard to get it. It's rare that I re-read a book and wonder why I liked it so much the first time.

Ultimately, it has something to do w/ the language, the dialogue, or the character (that pretty much covers it, huh?). That's the tangible. I guess the intangible is that it "gets" to me in one form of another. Mostly, it makes me dream, I suppose. And I want to keep dreaming.

The only book I ever re-read was Stranger in a Strange Land. It wasn't the same without drugs :) but there are several I would re-read if I had finished the last book on earth. They are The Glad River by Will Campbell, A Soldier of the Great War by Mark Helprin, The Book Thief by Markus Zusak, I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb. I'm sure there are a few more. Mostly I would want to read them again to SAVOR them, as I devoured them the first time.

I would reread a book that I really liked, but there are so many books that I haven't read that I don't want to waste the time rereading. However, I might re- member the story lots better, if I did reread ! *~* I have a few favorite authors, like Stegner, and I know I will like anything he writes ! tp

I was an English major and almost failed out of school b/c I didn't 'get' a lot of those metaphors either. I don't like to reread a book b/c I love not knowing how it ends, that is what keeps me coming back.

I wish I could recite quotes from all the great authors but alas I cannot and I'm finally ok with it